“You know, I’ve finally found out the best thing about high school, once you graduate you don’t have to come back.” Zack Morris
Embed from Getty ImagesHere we are 25 years later and Saved by the Bell is coming back! Did we ask for this? No, but they’re going to give it to us anyway and we might as well enjoy the ride! Yes Zack, Kelly, Slater, Jessie and Lisa are coming back to Bayside. Screech and Mr. Belding are not slated to return at this time though after Saved by the Bell the New Class they’ve put a lot of time in to the series. Apparently Screech and Kevin are up on the international space station and there is not any mention of Mr. Belding’s whereabouts.
When I look back on the TV watching history of my life Saved by the Bell is definitely high on the list of shows I’ve spent the most time watching. Throughout the years I remember popping on the show before school, after school and when I was in college during the middle of the day. My freshman year of college I remember grabbing lunch with my brother right before noon so we can eat while watching the hour block of the show. Even to this day if I see it while looking for something to watch there is a very good chance I’ll take a peek.
The interesting thing about Saved by the Bell is that I really can’t tell you what I like about it or why I started watching it. With so many of my favorite shows I can remember the first episode (or just part of episodes) I watched and really explain why I continued to watch the show. To me Saved by the Bell is just a part of me, if you mention any episode I’m immediately there with you and can remember every detail.
For me Saved by the Bell is a real “If you know you know” show. One day at work I brought up the latest episode of “Zack Morris is Trash” from Funny or Die and one of my younger coworkers turned around and said “Who is Zack Morris?”. It was such a shocking thing to hear, but after the shock disappears it then becomes a difficult thing to explain. There is really not a great way to describe him and explain the show that will really draw in an outsider.
I think the real beauty of the show was that it was so unrealistic 99.9% of the time. This prepared you for the .1% of the time where it elicited actual emotion. Some episodes tried to be “serious” Jessies Song or No Hope with Dope quickly come to mind, but the majority of episodes are just light hijinks and quick banter. It’s also just a complete time machine in to what television network executive’s thought was “cool” in the late 80’s early 90’s: the colors, the clothes, the music and even the technology (who didn’t love Zack’s cell phone!?).
We will see how the reboot ultimately fares. I mean for a comparison from up North Degrassi: The Next Generation well succeeded its predecessor while at the beginning of the series balancing the fans want for old characters while they built out new characters and stories. Will this have the cultural impact of the original? Probably not, but really how many shows have that status. In the meantime it gives us something to watch in 2020 (the year where we NEED things to watch). I’m looking forward to going on a good journey back to Bayside.
“I like school. It’s just too bad classes get in the way.” Zack Morris
